Analyzing Whole-Body Pose Transitions in Multi-Contact Motions

When executing whole-body motions, humans are able to use a large variety of support poses which not only utilize the feet, but also hands, knees and elbows to enhance stability. While there are many works analyzing the transitions involved in walking, very few works analyze human motion where more complex supports occur. In this work, we analyze complex support pose transitions in human motion involving locomotion and manipulation tasks (loco-manipulation). We have applied a method for the detection of human support contacts from motion capture data to a large-scale dataset of loco-manipulation motions involving multi-contact supports, providing a semantic representation of them. Our results provide a statistical analysis of the used support poses, their transitions and the time spent in each of them. In addition, our data partially validates our taxonomy of whole-body support poses presented in our previous work. We believe that this work extends our understanding of human motion for humanoids, with a long-term objective of developing methods for autonomous multi-contact motion planning.Comment: 8 pages, IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids) 201

Organisation, Repräsentation und Analyse menschlicher Ganzkörperbewegung für die datengetriebene Bewegungsgenerierung bei humanoiden Robotern

Diese Arbeit präsentiert einen Ansatz zur datengetriebenen Bewegungsgenerierung für humanoide Roboter, der auf der Beobachtung und Analyse menschlicher Ganzkörperbewegungen beruht. Hierzu wird untersucht, wie erfasste Bewegungen repräsentiert, klassifiziert und in einer großskaligen Bewegungsdatenbank organisiert werden können. Die statistische Modellierung der Transitionen zwischen charakteristischen Ganzkörperposen ermöglicht im Anschluss die Generierung von Multi-Kontakt-Bewegungen

Analyzing Whole-Body Pose Transitions in Multi-Contact Motions

Abstract-When executing whole-body motions, humans are able to use a large variety of support poses which not only utilize the feet, but also hands, knees and elbows to enhance stability. While there are many works analyzing the transitions involved in walking, very few works analyze human motion where more complex supports occur. In this work, we analyze complex support pose transitions in human motion involving locomotion and manipulation tasks (loco-manipulation). We have applied a method for the detection of human support contacts from motion capture data to a largescale dataset of loco-manipulation motions involving multicontact supports, providing a semantic representation of them. Our results provide a statistical analysis of the used support poses, their transitions and the time spent in each of them. In addition, our data partially validates our taxonomy of wholebody support poses presented in our previous work. We believe that this work extends our understanding of human motion for humanoids, with a long-term objective of developing methods for autonomous multi-contact motion planning

Prostaglandin E2 stimulates the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) in cultured mouse cortical collecting duct cells in an autocrine manner

Funding: This study was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), project number 387509280, SFB 1350), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (3.3-GRO/1143730 STP), the Interdisziplin ̈ares Zentrum für KlinischeForschung of Friedrich-Alexander University (IZKF, TP-A33), and the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (PDOK-74-10).Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is the most abundant prostanoid in the kidney, affecting a wide range of renal functions. Conflicting data have been reported regarding the effects of PGE2 on tubular water and ion transport. The amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is rate limiting for transepithelial sodium transport in the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron. The aim of the present study was to explore a potential role of PGE2 in regulating ENaC in cortical collecting duct (CCD) cells. Short-circuit current (ISC) measurements were performed using the murine mCCDcl1 cell line known to express characteristic properties of CCD principal cells and to be responsive to physiological concentrations of aldosterone and vasopressin. PGE2 stimulated amiloride-sensitive ISC via basolateral prostaglandin E receptors type 4 (EP4) with an EC50 of ∼7.1 nM. The rapid stimulatory effect of PGE2 on ISC resembled that of vasopressin. A maximum response was reached within minutes, coinciding with an increased abundance of β-ENaC at the apical plasma membrane and elevated cytosolic cAMP levels. The effects of PGE2 and vasopressin were nonadditive, indicating similar signaling cascades. Exposing mCCDcl1 cells to aldosterone caused a much slower (∼2 h) increase of the amiloride-sensitive ISC. Interestingly, the rapid effect of PGE2 was preserved even after aldosterone stimulation. Furthermore, application of arachidonic acid also increased the amiloride-sensitive ISC involving basolateral EP4 receptors. Exposure to arachidonic acid resulted in elevated PGE2 in the basolateral medium in a cyclooxygenase 1 (COX-1)-dependent manner. These data suggest that in the cortical collecting duct, locally produced and secreted PGE2 can stimulate ENaC-mediated transepithelial sodium transport.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Simulating extreme multi-hazard events with decentralized Web-processing services: Towards a better understanding of cascading impact

The RIESGOS Project (Multi-Risk Analysis And Information System Components for the Andes Region) funded by the German Ministry of Science and education (BMBF) has, as one of its main goals, the design and development of distributed software components for multi-hazard and risk analysis in particular by simulating hypothetical future high-impact events and their consequences. Implemented as an open library of interacting Web-services, these components will cover a full range of multi-hazard and risk related data acquisition and simulation services. These services include, for example: query of a seismic catalog, simulation of a shake map, simulation of a tsunami inundation scenario and assessment of expected damage and loss under consideration of cascading effects to critical infrastructure. Individual Web-services can be flexibly combined to produce multi-hazard scenarios with the ultimate goal to assist local authorities and decision makers to explore factors influencing the risk in their specific multi-hazard environments, thus improving disaster risk reduction and disaster management activities. To facilitate the development of a project which encompasses diverse hazard and risk components of various nature, our research is organized along a set of pre-described ‘event stories’ representing realistic, complex multi-hazard events with cascading effects in selected pilot regions of Chile, Peru and Ecuador. For each story, a storyboard is developed, which provides a narrative description of a hypothetical crisis evolution, defines the specific hazards involved, the related exposed assets and the expected consequences. In particular, these event stories target the following topics: - earthquake and tsunami (Chile and Peru); - heavy rain and river flooding (Peru); - volcano instability, lahar event and subsequent flooding via temporary river blockage (Ecuador). Each story can then be analysed in a more quantitative way by estimating different scenarios through numerical analysis and simulation of the different risk components. Remarkably, the consideration of vulnerability in a multi-hazard risk assessment framework is significantly more challenging with respect to the single hazard case, especially when interaction may occur at the vulnerability level due to physical damage accumulation. Furthermore, the project also aims at considering cascading effects to critical infrastructure such as power grids, roads and bridges. In order to ease up the visual exploration of such a complex multi-risk framework, a Web-based demonstrator platform integrating decentralized OGC Web Processing Service instances into multi-hazard and risk scenarios is being developed. To better meet the requirements of end-users, a thorough analysis of users’ needs and continued user participation during the whole development process is assured